See, I never understood the UMD hate. UMDs have always worked just fine for me, and they're not even that slow -- games like Ys: The Oath in Felghana, Brave Story, etc. load pretty much instantly.
And from a publisher's perspective, the UMD was a godsend -- optical media is SO MUCH CHEAPER to produce.
I miss UMDs.
Ah, yeah, I expected that answer. I guess I have to explain.
I own around 500 - 600 physical games right now (and growing, of course) and I treat them really, really well. In all the time I've played video games on consoles (Admittedly, it's only been 10 years since I've started when I was 9 years old) I have never, ever "destroyed" a game. No cartridge, no disc, no nothing. And in case of handhelds, I always carry around every game I own for them (which, I know, is risky) because I usually don't play one game for a long time, but rather shuffle between a huge amount of games (which is why I am wary of mandatory installs on PS4 and Xbox One).
And, you see, in early 2013, I decided it was time to jump into the PSP library and got myself a PSP. Now, naturally, that came with a few problems - due to UMDs being not only bulky, but also optical media, I couldn't carry around more than a few at a time - something I really don't like doing.
So, well, I was like "gotta deal with it" and only always took 2-3 games with me plus the one inside the PSP. 2 weeks after I got my PSP with a handful of games, I tried playing one of them and the PSP wouldn't read it. I though "well, that's shitty", tried a different game, which, luckily, worked. So I assumed it must have been a one time error and tried again - the UMD wouldn't be read.
Why? Because there was a crack in it's case and now the PSP wouldn't spin the disc because it was blocked by the case. Fucking amazing. 2 whole weeks after getting the thing the game was broken - Well, not the game, the UMD was perfectly fine, but the PSP couldn't read it because the plastic case was broken.
I have, since then, only ever carried around one game with my PSP. But because of that, even though there are many awesome games on the system, I barely ever play on it. And to date, that one UMD has been the only game I've owned that broke.
It's really more of a personal thing. I can totally understand people liking UMDs, and, to be honest, at the time the additional storage space in comparison to the DS was a big leap (similarily to how the cartridge -> disc change went about) and it absolutely makes sense to use them from a business standpoint (again similar to the cartridge -> disc shift in the days of the PS1), but personally, I hate the things and they kind of ruin the system for me - it's just doesn't fit my style of playing games and I think it's a pretty backwards idea to use easily damaged media as you choice of game distribution on a system meant to be taken on the road - especially when cracking the protective case itself is enough to render the game unplayable. One good thing came from it though: most PSP games are dirt cheap nowadays, even new (hence why I still own around 40 games for the thing; it's a shame I barely get to play them).
